Zeta Beta Tau tosses tomatoes for a good cause

“What’s a frat without tomatoes?”

In Zeta Beta Tau member Ben Torchman’s opinion, “No fun, that’s what.”

Lucky for Torchman, he got to experience the reality of that statement at the first Zeta Beta TomaTau.

ZBT accomplished Sunday what no other IU fraternity has: an organized tomato festival where 10,000 fruits were ordered and dumped in the field across from the ZBT house to be used in the largest-ever tomato fight at IU.

Hundreds of students came out to participate in tomato-adapted activities such as tomato volleyball, tomato Slip ’n Slide and tug-of-war over a pit of tomatoes.

“I never thought I could have so much fun rolling around in tomato juice,” sophomore Molly Codner said. Codner is a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi and came to the event with other members of her sorority.

The festival was aimed to mimic La Tomatina in Spain, where tens of thousands of people flood the streets of Valencia at the end of August each year to battle with one hundred metric tons of tomatoes, according to a Spanish travel Web site.

“We wanted a remake of the Tomatina, and I think we got it,” ZBT President Matt Garden said.

The idea for such an event was inspired by a group of ZBT members last year
during breakfast.

“We were like, ‘Let’s have a theme that rhymes with our name and that no one has ever done before,’” Garden said. “The next thing you know, we have a giant tomato fight.”

T-shirts and tickets to participate were each sold for $10, with proceeds going to the Rory David Deutsch Foundation, which funds research for pediatric brain tumors.

“We were definitely hoping to raise money and awareness for our philanthropy, but this is also about having fun,” said junior Jason Schechtman, philanthropy co-chair. “The tomatoes are the fun part.”